Brave New World
by aurorlaw
Summary: Facing defeat, Voldemort attempts a spell that will erase Harry from birth. What would happen to our favorite Hogwarts students if it is reflected and Tom Riddle had never been born instead? Slytherin Harry, ect.
1. Brave New World

**Disclaimer: **All characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and her publishing company, or whoever has the copyrights. I have just borrowed the characters to put them in an odd situation.

My first fic. Please review. A beta would be nice if anyone is interested. I will update soon.

_Harry took a deep breath as he entered the room. It was his 6th year and he was now facing his final test. Slowly he walked across the hall, he knew who he would encounter at the end of the next doorway. He was 16 years old. While most 16 year olds were worrying about getting their driver's permit, or getting their hand up a girl's skirt he was here to save the world. Harry would avenge his parents, Sirius, Dumbledore, Hagrid, Charley…Harry was going to stand face to face, alone, against Lord Voldemort._

"_This time there will be no escape for you" Voldemort smiled evilly. _

"_I've stopped you before, I will do it again" Harry sneered, hatred in his eyes. His wand was ready, but there were no curses in his mind- just blind rage. Harry knew he had to clear his mind, he had to push away the anger. He couldn't, he couldn't force himse to concentrate._

"_Time return, life undone, the incantation of changing what is now our past.  
Forth a new reality, a place where you were never brought to life"Voldemortchanted._

"_Reflejio!" Harry shouted and threw forth the reflecting shield from his wand just as the last words of Voldemort's spell were spoken. It had been the easiest and quickest spell he could bring to mind. _

Harry sat up, his body covered with a light coat of sweat. He couldn't remember what he had dreamt, whatever it was he was glad it was over. He got out of bed slowly, his mouth was dry and there was no way he would be able to fall asleep again unless he got a drink of water.

Softly he made his way across the room, into the bathroom. Turning on the tap, he took a deep breath before filling a glass with water. He felt disoriented, emotionless, confused…things were not falling into place. It was almost as if he was still in the dream, he felt like a zombie.

'No need to make a big scene, -he told himself- no need to summon a stupid elf, I just need…' there was a movement behind him, he jumped.

"You're jumpy lately, Potter. Got a guilty conscious?" Malfoy walked past him to a urinal.

Harry turned back to the sink and gulped down the water. He splashed his face and stared at his reflection. His black hair was messy, as usual, and although he knew he had always looked like this, that he was still Harry, he did not feel himself. His green eyes seemed to flash and everything came back to him, like he had just woken up suddenly.

Malfoy washed his hands. Potter glanced at the blond Slytherin who shot him a glance.

"Nightmare" Harry told him.

"I'm starting to worry that you ARE developing a conscious" Malfoy smiled.

"Promise me the day that happens you will put me out of my misery" Harry smirked.

"Hey, that's what best friends are for"

PLATFORM 9 3/4: The Trip to Hogwarts

Harry hoped that his father would show up. His father had not been to visit him at all this summer, even missed his 11th birthday. The train was leaving, but his eyes still searched the crowd at platform 9 ¾ expectedly. Any minute his father would appear, and he would at least get to see him waiving goodbye. All he could see was his mother, however, her auburn hair tied back. Sirius stood by her side, one arm waiving at him and the other holding Harry's younger half-brother Sid. Harry smiled at him, Sid was waiving with such enthusiasm that Harry feared he would fall from his father's arms. Sirius was a great step dad, but it was not the same as having his own father there to see him off on his way to begin his wizard training at Hogwarts. This was a very important milestone in the life of any young wizard.

Harry plopped back down on his seat in the compartment and glanced across at Draco.

"Do you think house placement has a lot to do with family?" Malfoy asked.

"I don't know" Harry shrugged looking out the window. "I hope not".

Malfoy was positively obsessed with houses. For his part he knew that both his mother and father had been Gryffindors. Draco's family had been Slytherins.

Draco and Harry were acquaintances. Sirius's marriage to Lily had caused a lot of problems. No one in his family really talked to him, he had always been considered the black sheep of the Black family. He had disgraced them further by marrying a mud blood and not just any mudblood but his best friend's wife. His cousin Narcissa had been the only one willing to open her home to them, occasionally. That was because Sirius had hurt James Potter, a man she hated to no end. During their years at Hogwarts together she had been madly in love with her cousin's best friend, James, only to find him chose a filthy mud blood instead.

In the end Potter's heart had been crushed when Lily and Sirius had been unable to keep themselves from each other. The divorce shook James to the core. Sirius took James' lovely young wife, his 4 year old son, Harry, and soon enough had his own son with her, Sid. Lily was pregnant even before the divorce went through.

Harry and Draco had met occasionally during Harry's birthday parties. Narcissa felt kind of sorry for the little boy, Harry Potter. Lily had no living family, aside from a sister who did not accept her. From his father's side, the Potters, a long standing wizarding family, the discomfort of the betrayal made it impractical to keep in contact.

"Has anybody seen a toad?" a bushy haired, nosy girl opened their compartment.

"No" Draco snapped impatiently at having been interrupted from his ongoing monologue about finding the perfect wand.

"This boy Ariel McKinnon has lost his…"

"A toad?" Draco sneered. "Why would he bother even looking for that?"

Harry joined the three boys in a smirk. His eyes shifted over to see the girl's reaction. She looked un-amused.

"My name is Hermione Granger" she announced. "And you are?"

"Malfoy, Draco Malfoy" he replied. The name Granger did not sound familiar to him. "This is Crabbe and Goyle" Draco continued.

"I'm Harry" he told her when her eyes shifted to him.

She had pretty brown eyes, that seemed to be thinking deeply about something. Classes hadn't started, so he could see no reason for her to seem so preoccupied.

"Have you heard anything about the sorting ceremony?" Draco took the opportunity to ask someone new.

Harry kicked himself when she felt her gaze move to his blond companion. He had not been able to think of anything to say.

"Do you know if it has anything to do with family?" he continued.

"I don't know. I read in Hogwarts: A history, that you are chosen by the qualities prized by the founders of the house"

"That doesn't make sense" Draco retorted as if she had just insulted him with that answer.

"It was a very long book. ISkimmed through that section" she admitted and glanced back at Harry, as if wondering if he was still watching. She didn't add that it hadn't interested her so much because she did not have family who had ever attended Hogwarts. She was grateful just to be here. Deep inside, however, she hoped she would make Ravenclaw. "I better keep looking. I think you guys better change into your robes, we will be arriving soon"

Harry was in awe of the Great Hall. He heard someone up ahead say something about the ceiling being bewitched, but he wasn't really listening. He was looking at what seemed to be walls disappearing into a summer night. Even though he had been exposed to magic before, it had never been on this level. He was grateful that other students seemed just as impressed

"Look at this" Draco nudged Harry, "it's a Weasley"

A boy with fiery red hair turned back to face them.

"I've heard about them, thought they were extinct. Notice the tattered second hand robe, the dim-doe eye look in his eyes and that hair" Draco laughed.

Harry smiled, even though he felt sorry for the boy.

"They can be spotted for miles. That's what makes them such easy targets in hunts" Draco continued. "Hello, Weasley, had anything to eat today"

Harry saw the young boy's face go red, and stopped smiling. This was going too far. The boy did have tattered robes, his hair tossled and a small bit of dirt on the side of his nose. Harry pitied him.

"Come on, Draco. I want to be in the front when the ceremony starts" Harry started to walking, Draco followed shooting a backwards glance at the young Weasley.

"They really are pathetic. They have about 10 kids. They are a shame to pureblood

Wizarding families everywhere- my father said"

"No need to rub it in" Harry told him. "We've got money and he doesn't. He didn't seem like a bad kid"

"Harry, considering that you and I are…we're cousins I suppose, sort of…I think" the whole relationship between them wasn't too clear to either one of them, so he decided to move on without trying to chart their relation. "and that you have been out of the Wizarding world for a while, my mother asked me to help you" Draco told him. "If you want to fit in, back in where you belong and who you belong with, you are going to have to behave the right way. Your mother already gave you a bad start, being muggle born and all"

"Don't talk bad about my mother" Harry snapped.

"You have good Wizarding family in you. Your name, your stepfather's, you have a lot to live up to, just like me. I am here to help you. You can learn the ropes and make your father proud or you can fail and never get noticed"

Harry nodded. That's what he feared the most. He could not go through life being a nobody, being an anonymous face in the crowd. He wanted to stand out, he wanted people to know his name, his face and most of all he wanted to make his father proud.

His mother loved him, he knew. His father loved him, he knew that also. The problem was that each of them was married to a different person and each of them had a young son with their respective spouses. His mother had Sid, fathered by his stepfather Sirius and his father had William, the boy's mother was a woman Harry had met once. They each had their own families and Harry didn't feel he belonged at either home.

They had lived most of their lives in the muggle world, with a hint of magic. It was their mother's desire her children be exposed to the muggle world. Sirius had been angry at first, accusing her of wanting to escape their wizard friends. There had been many argumentsin whichSirius had accused his mom of being ashamed of their relationship. Mom had told him that she was afraid of her boys someday turning into muggle-born haters. That had satisfied Sirius. The muggle-born situation was one that was getting increasingly bad throughout the years, or so Harry had heard his mother say, and he wanted his children never to forget that half of them came from the muggle world.

It had been hard keeping secrets. While in front of the world they were the Blacks next door, behind they were millionaire wizards who had guests apparitioning in and out, owls and mailmen coming to their door and a legacy of bad blood between loved ones that Harry didn't understand.

It had been at his 8th birthday that he had met Draco. Draco told him that he didn't know of a single wizarding family that was divorced. He had gone on to say that it was his mom's fault, everyone knew this, and that it had happened because she was a mud blood- Narcissa had slapped Draco. He had embarrassed her in front of the guests, that's the day Harry knew he would never truly fit in…not a muggle and obviously not a pureblood wizard.

Harry hadn't liked Draco then, and, glancing at him as they made their way to the front, he wondered if he even liked him now. They had met up a couple more times before being shipped to Hogwarts together. The two boys had almost been forced to befriend each other, as if their parents thought each had some kind of flaw that impeded them from making other friends.

"Harry Potter" McGonagall called.

Harry walked up to the hat and cast a quick glance at the faces lined up in front of him. They were waiting anxiously for their moment. The girl he had met in the train, Granger, had been sorted into Gryffindor. The hat had been annoyed at having to place another Weasley, but he was sorted into Gryffindor also. Draco had just smiled when the hat called out Slytherin. Deep down inside Harry knew that there was more relief than satisfaction in that smile. Although Draco had meant to play it cool, something inside him had honestly feared his placing by the hat. Harry didn't get to wonder what it was when the hat began to speak.

"Hmm, difficult, very difficult…there is bravery and a strong heart. There is courage and talent…but you thirst, above all, to prove yourself, to set yourself apart from others. You want to find your way to greatness. You will do that at SLYTHERIN!"

Harry smiled. Yeah, it was relief. That's the feeling you felt when the sorting hat put you where you belong. It's as if you realize something which you subconsciously knew all along. You feel where you belong, but now you KNOW where you truly belong.


	2. To Dream

Disclaimer: Standard - I own nothing.

**-Brave New World-**

When Harry made it to the Great Hall for breakfast the following morning, Draco was telling a story to a pair of exited Slytherin classmates. He had not slept well at all the night before, plagued with nightmares he couldn't remember. Harry nodded a greeting to all of them, not wanting to disrupt his friend's narrative, and too grouchy to want to say anything. He had already heard this tale, but Nott and Goyle were enjoying it for the first time.

"She grabbed my hand and pulled me aside." Draco shook his head to toss some strands of his blond bangs out of his eye. "Then she told me how she had been feeling something for me since first year and jumped right on me! It was right there behind the Herbology Green…" his eyes moved to Hannah Abbot who had just entered the Great Hall.

He gave her an evil grin and winked. Abbot blushed as all the Slytherins' that surrounded Malfoy laughed. She looked away tearfully and rushed back out the door. Harry smiled and shook his head; the girl was going to regret her moment of fire-whisky induced lust. Everyone in the school already knew and it had just happened upon their return from Hogsmeade the previous weekend.

"Naïve Hufflepuffs," Nott smiled. "They're not even a conquest!"

"If she wasn't so hot I'd feel embarrassed at having been assaulted by that simpleton," Draco said smirking.

Harry's smile deepened as he noticed the two Gryffindors, who had been walking with Abbot, give the Slytherin boys a dirty look. Hermione Granger, the arrogant muggle-born prefect, and Ginny Weasley, the runt of the Weasley litter. Harry wasn't listening to the rest of Draco's story. His eyes followed Granger as she sat down with Ariel McKinnon, and a few seats away he heard Ronald Weasley laugh.

Ronald Weasley had been the constant butt of Draco's jokes for a couple of years, right from the moment they had got off Hogwart's Express. Harry never paid the boy much attention, and truthfully, he rather pitied him. From Weasley's pathetic Quidditch tryout (where he failed miserably) to his constant blunders in Transfiguration (not like he did much better in anything else) he was a complete and utter failure. He also had a temper from hell, which made him such a constant target he was easy to get a rise of.

Harry, though, had developed a strange bitterness towards Weasley. During their second year at Hogwarts Ronald could count four siblings in school with him, always laughing and harassing each other. Now, blessed be, only Ronald and the runt remained. This summer during their trip to Diagon Alley to purchase their school supplies for sixth year, Harry had become conscious of the fact that, as irrational as it was, he felt envy towards Weasley.

"_I don't know why he even bothers to say he'll show up," Draco complained as they walked out of Gringotts. _

_This year the new Firebolt was out and he and Draco had been promised the state of the art brooms. Nott was supposed to meet them there, but he was late - as usual. _

"_Are you ready, Sirs?" Dolbis, the Squib servant in Malfoy Manor, had asked. He was the one who had taken them shopping for their Hogwarts supplies the past two years. _

_Draco replied by handing the man a couple of packages dismissively, and carried on walking ahead, pushing right through a group of three kids that looked like second years. One of them was about to say something, but closed his mouth when he met Harry's eye. Harry cocked an eyebrow at him, putting the boy back firmly in his place._

"_Hey Pansy!" Draco waved at a girl who was amidst a crowd of three others; Millicent Bulstrode, Marina Moon and Janice Lestrange. _

_The girls made their way over to them. _

"_Nott is going to hex himself for missing this one," Draco whispered over to Harry. _

_Harry kept his eyes on Janice. The girl gave him the faintest hint of a smile and Harry knew he had her. Janice did not smile, and nor did she socialise. Her long blonde hair was dyed a shocking shade of blue-black, making her fair pale skin look as if she was at deaths door. She wore a black leather chocker and tall, lace up black boots. Her red lipstick was magically charmed to keep her lips looking wet and supple… like a vampire who had just fed, Harry thought wickedly. He wasn't particularly drawn to the girl, she was just an enigma, a challenge. Janice seemed different so she interested him, more than say the other two Slytherins._

"_We're heading to get our robes, want to join us?" Pansy asked. _

"_Sounds good," Harry nodded. _

"_Have you guys seen Blaise?" Pansy asked._

"_You don't need Blaise now that you have me around," Draco smiled and winked at her. _

_Pansy laughed, but looked away. She was one of the only few girls who did not fall for Malfoy's game. Not because she was immune, but because the two had been there and done that during fourth year. Pansy wasn't big on recycling her men. _

'_Too many boys, too little time,' she had told Harry one night after attempting to kiss him. _

_Inside Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions, Harry saw the Weasleys. The five Slytherins grew silent at the sight of four Gryffindors and their parents. The store was pretty empty, just a few last minute shoppers. _

_"Wow, Weasley's father must be blind," Malfoy stated. _

_The small group laughed. Malfoy had spoke soft enough to keep his comment within the group only. Their laughter, however, caught the attention of Ronald and Ginny Weasley._

"_Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Potter," Alexius, an assistant to the storekeeper, smiled a greeting. "Should I show you our new line of robes?" _

_Madam Malkin approached the girls and led them to another section of the shop. Harry's eyes glanced at the Weasleys, while Alexius fitted them with newly imported Italian robes. The one he had on felt nice, it was lined with silk inside for comfort._

_Ronald met Harry's eyes once and blushed, while his mother was eagerly telling him that she knew a spell which would get the stain off the second hand robe he had just tried on._

"_Oh, it's not my fault that you're more heavily set than George and Fred, and can't have some of their robes," his mother started. _

_Harry's eyes went to the Weasley girl, she was looking at a pair of beautiful robe clasps that were kept behind magical glass. She could reach in and touch them, but could not lift them off their setting. _

_Three more redheads walked in then, and from the greeting Harry surmised it was the older brothers._

"_Some day, when you turn into a real boy, you will be able to fit nicely into Percy's robes," the oldest one joked._

"I_ will be keeping my robes, thank you," Percy interjected. _

_Harry shook his head. That guy had been the most pompous little prick the whole time he had been at Hogwarts. He could still hear the prat chanting: 'excuse me, prefect coming through!'. Harry wondered if that was the highlight of the jerk's career. _

"_I'm already bigger than Perce," Ronald stated as the group headed towards the front to pay._

'_That's the truth,' Harry thought to himself, avidly agreeing with Ron's comment._

"_Ginny is bigger than him," Fred or George confirmed. Harry had never bothered to figure out a way of keeping them straight._

_The group laughed. _

"_Dad's already got us a table, hurry up," the third arrival confirmed. "I'm starving."_

_The eldest picked up his younger sister and threw her over his shoulder. _

"_Bill!" Ginny squealed as the boys laughed._

"_Oh, for goodness sakes, Bill, put your sister down," their mother ordered in a gentle tone as she paid. _

"_Everyone stand back, you stirred up a dragon's nest!" another brother cautioned._

_Ginny was placed gently back on the ground and the first thing she did was glance at Harry, red faced. Harry was taken back, then he realised he was staring and looked away immediately. He had been completely absorbed in their actions and conversations. Feeling embarrassed, he admonished himself for taking pleasure in the daily activities of the Weasleys. Harry shrugged and chucked it to being inquisitive, like one of those Wild-Kingdom animal watchers - not like Malfoy would get the reference._

_Harry glanced over at Malfoy, but he hadn't even noticed. Harry was grateful that the git was so incredibly self-centred he never really noticed anything around him, unless of course it interfered with his self-adoration. Harry smiled and shook his head. Draco, for lack of a better word, was interesting. He was likewise a good friend, he had always backed Harry up, even when it meant getting himself in trouble also. They were like an old married couple, fighting, ignoring each other and finally somehow coming back together. Harry guessed it happened when two people as strong willed as they were became close._

_What truly kept them together was how they complimented each other. Draco was loud, Harry was quiet. Draco was rash, while Harry was deliberate. Harry was mercurial, passionate by nature, he could rage a storm one instant and be cold and collected the next. Malfoy surveyed the world through his cold, detached glare. There was always something of a smirk on his face, and there was no mistaking it for a smile. The smirk was wicked and arrogant. He walked as if surrounded by servants, not friends. Harry shook his head, thinking of the nickname he had heard girls call Malfoy, Adonis. _

_What a laugh. _

_The Weasleys walked out, their packages in hand._

"_God, you'd figure someone would have taught them to act like civilised wizards," Draco mumbled._

"_Honestly Draco, look at what you're saying," Harry mumbled back, trying to hide how interested he had been in the Weasleys and how being caught unnerved him. "They have almost a dozen kids. Who would ever teach them anything?"_

"_They're embarrassing," Draco hissed._

"_Just be grateful they're not your family," Harry agreed and ran his hand over his new robe, appreciating the way it felt against his skin. _

"_Blessed be," Draco nodded._

_The Weasleys began on foot up the street, amidst much laughter and chatter. Harry knew he'd go home tonight to a silent Manor and a lonely meal. It didn't matter though, he told himself, as he heard the Weasleys laugh outside, as he saw Fred or George pull away from their mother's loving embrace._

"_Lets go get those Firebolts," Harry insisted. "I want everyone to see what we got."_

_Malfoy smiled as he looked at himself in the mirror._

"_You guys look great," Janice said from behind them. _

_The two boys turned around. _

"_Thanks."_

"_We'll meet you girls at the Leaky Cauldron," Draco told her._

_The Firebolt felt light in his hand as the two entered the smoky pub. The place was filled to the brim with not only returning students, but their families too. All the tables were taken, and making their way through the crowd with their brooms proved to be a bit of a task._

"_Potter, Malfoy," someone called. "Over here!"_

"_Hey, Nott, you found them," Malfoy smiled as they made their way to the table where Janice, Pansy, Millicent and Marina sat._

"_Oh, wow! You guys got the Firebolts?" Millicent cried._

"_I'll be getting one too," Nott mumbled, but couldn't help reaching out to touch the brooms Potter and Malfoy had laid on the table._

"_Slytherin is going to be invincible this year!" Crabbe came up behind them._

"_You can bet on that," Harry told him, sitting himself next to Pansy. _

"_Those are nice brooms," April Longbottom walked up with two of her soon-to-be fourth year friends. _

"_We're planning to unseat Gryffindor," Draco smiled and glanced over at Ronald, who was walking by with a couple of mugs of butterbeer._

_Ronald looked at the brooms. "Those are nice," he mumbled, unable to help himself. _

"_You want a ride, Weasley?" Draco asked, leaving the table to order drinks. "I'll have my charity work done for the week then," he added as he walked away with Millicent. The small group that stood by them snickered._

_Ronald, for once, did not have a comeback. His eyes moved from the brooms he was admiring, to April who didn't even notice him, to the robes Harry wore and then to Harry's face. _

"_Must be nice," he said bitterly, resentment in his voice._

"_It is," Harry replied with venom in his. _

_He tried to look as condescending as possible, and he was succeeding until Mrs. Weasley came up. "Oh, Ronald dear, you're going to spill them… hello, who are your friends, Ronald?"_

_Harry was taken aback by the plump woman's kind smile. _

"_They're not…" Ron mumbled, trying to lead his mother away._

_Harry was grateful Draco was not around. _

"_These are Malfoy's friends, mom," Ronald managed._

"_Oh, I see," she nodded, her smile fading somewhat. "Well, have a good year at Hogwarts all of you."_

_The three girls at the table laughed at her when she turned away._

"_Goddess, did you see her robe? It was all patched up!" Pansy exclaimed when the woman was out of earshot. _

_Harry winced as if someone had just kicked a puppy. He was grateful the girls did not go on bashing the lady, who seemed so incredibly soft and caring. His eyes followed Ronald to the Weasley's table, where there were three other people that did not sport red-hair. It was ridiculous for him to be jealous of them… of him._

_He wondered what their holidays were like. Harry liked to remind himself of how poor they were, of how little they had and of how incompetent of a wizard Ronald was. It didn't help though, because Ronald had what Harry had always wished he did - a real family. _

_Harry's mother worked as a Healer at St. Mungos, and she worked very long shifts. In the muggle world she would have been termed a "workaholic". Sirius ran Black Enterprises, requiring long hours and tons of travel. Sid would spend most of his time at Merlin's Prep School and on holidays he would go to Muggle summer camp. His little brother, however, did not seem to be half as lonely as Harry was. _

_Harry would spend his holidays from Hogwarts roaming the halls of Black manor alone, coming up with fake excuses to summon the house-elves, just so he could feel there was someone else in the house with him. His only relief came from house parties he threw and when he would go to Malfoy Manor. Malfoy, though, wasn't like him in that resect at all. Draco's only ambition was to outdo his father, to live up to the Malfoy name. Harry, on the other hand, wanted to at least get his father to notice him. Draco was an only child, the focus of both his mother and father. Harry was the lasting remnant of a failed relationship. Harry, more than anything, just wished to fit in. He had spent his early child hood away from this world and now was doing all he could to settle in it, to become a real wizard. _

Harry snapped back from his memory as Draco finished his story, and Zabini took the seat Goyle had vacated. Zabini, a Slytherin prefect, began to discuss a Potions assignment with Nott. Harry's vision again went to the Gryffindor table, this time however, he locked eyes with his worse nightmare, Neville Longbottom. No longer in front of a rapt audience, Draco followed Harry's line of sight.

"Longbottom, Longbottom," Draco spat viciously. "Pureblood Wizarding family, perfect grades, perfect life."

Harry sighed and nodded his agreement. Longbottom's father was ahead of Malfoy's in the polls. Lucius' re-election campaign was finally being truly contested. Frank Longbottom had an impeccable record as one of the Ministry's top Aurors. Neville came from a powerful wizarding family, his grandmother was a legend and his little sister, April, was the hottest Ravenclaw this side of the Wizarding community. He was also the Gryffindor seeker (who had beat them out of the Quidditch cup three years in a row now), had some of the best grades in his classes and he was a prefect.

Longbottom looked away, nonchalantly. The most obnoxious thing about him was his calm and cool demeanour. Longbottom was the reason Slytherin had lost so many points the previous years, making them look pathetic at the end of the year house-cup presentation. Mr. Perfect had a knack for inducing Slytherin's into trying their luck against him, and in the end they would always get caught and make the house look inferior.

Just last year he had cost Slytherin fifty points, when Longbottom had mentioned, very loudly if one may add, that they were heading out to capture Sparks of Life. Apparently every few years small flashes of fiery waves were emitted by the Forbidden Forest as it cleansed itself. Placing your wand in a container that held Sparks cleansed it and made it more powerful.

Well, how was Harry to know that there was a herd of Thestrals standing by Draco, Theodore and himself? Those things were bloody invisible! How was he to know that their movements had sent them rampaging across the grounds, destroying everything in sight? How was he to know that Longbottom and his little friends were going to hide underneath an invisibility cloak when Professor Hagrid came roaring at them? The three of them had stood about like idiots wondering what was going on around them.

Not like Professor Hagrid believed their story: the Gryffindors had told us to do it. Yeah, it had been a stretch of the truth, but the Gryffindors _had_ come up with the plan. Professor Hagrid had an obvious and very blatant bias towards Gryffindor. He hated all Slytherins for no good reason. He had made them set the Sparks free, given them a weeks worth of detention and summoned the Headmaster. They were told they should be grateful to be alive, the stampeding Thestrals had just barely missed hitting them.

He had demanded an invisibility cloak after that. That's when he found out his father had meant to give him his on his thirteenth birthday, but his mother hadn't allowed it. Sirius had attempted to plead with his mother, telling her that during their time they had used the cloak themselves, but she was adamant.

'Harry is going to Hogwarts to learn, not to be a troublemaker.'

Yeah, well what if he wanted to be a troublemaker? What if that's all he was good for? She had no right to keep his father's present from him. She had already taken his father from him, period. Harry had threatened to call James and move in with him, but realised his father was away at a game and would not be back for weeks.

'Harry, you have to focus on your education so you can become a Healer, or maybe even the Minister of Magic some day,' she had told him.

'Well, what if I just want to be an Auror, or a Quidditch player like my father? What if what you want for me is not what I want for myself? What if I don't want to be the stupid Minister of Magic or an overworked Healer?'

'You can be more than an Auror, Harry. That's not the lifestyle I want for my son,' his mother had told him, after he had confided what his career aspirations were.

Harry grit his teeth, because deep down inside Longbottom had lived the Hogwarts experience he had hoped for himself. Next year, surely, he would be chosen to be the school's Champion. He was probably even going to win the Tri-wizard tournament too, be Head Boy, become the next Minister of Magic, for Merlin's sake, he might become Merlin himself… Neville laughed at something Ron had said.

"At least there are bigger losers in the school," Harry mumbled.

"What do you mean?" Zabini asked.

"Nothing," Harry snapped. "Lets get to Transfiguration."

"What's wrong with him?" Zabini shot Harry a nod as he spoke to Malfoy.

"He's not sleeping well," Draco announced, teasing his friend. "I think that curse Janice threatened him with might be working."

"That's what you get for leaving such a hot girl," Zabini replied, raised his eyebrows suggestively and glancing at the raven-haired goth-chick.

"Hot? She's a _freak_," Nott stated. "You're mad to have gotten involved with that nutter."

"She's enticing though, isn't she Harry?" Zabini asked.

"Go find out for yourself, Blaise," Harry stood up with a bored sigh. "Please, be my guest."

"See you guys in class," Zabini laughed.

… … … …

"_Come to me," the voice called to him._

"_Where are you?" Harry looked around the misty hallway._

"_Come to me, my heir, returned."_

_Harry stopped, no longer feeling comfortable, he reached for his wand. He heard a hissing sound._

"_You will not need that."_

"_Call me crazy, but it makes me feel better," Harry called out defiantly._

_He turned and crashed into a tall, pale man with shining green eyes. Harry froze in terror. "You will not need that," he hissed, his tongue forked like a snake._

Harry sat up in his bed with a jolt, sweating again. He laid back down, catching his breath. What the bloody hell was wrong with him? He had had a nightmare every night that week. They weren't normal nightmares either, they made his whole body feel drained and shaky. He was starting to believe what Malfoy had said; that Janice had indeed cursed him. No matter how ridiculous it sounded, he was going to have to confront Janice tomorrow. This couldn't go on.

… … … …


End file.
